5 things to know about the Kaiser Permanente strike

Labor unrest following high inflation and an increased cost of living hit a new high point Wednesday, as more than 75,000 health care workers with hospital chain Kaiser Permanente went on strike in multiple U.S. states.

Unions said it’s the biggest health care strike in U.S. history, but they also expect it to last just three days.

Workers with a coalition of striking unions say Kaiser is deliberately understaffing its facilities, and they are accusing the company of “bad faith bargaining.” 

“Kaiser executives are refusing to listen to us and are bargaining in bad faith over the solutions we need to end the Kaiser short-staffing crisis,” Jessica Cruz, a nurse at Kaiser Los Angeles Medical Center, said in a statement provided to The Hill.

“We’re burning ourselves out trying to do the jobs of two or three people, and our patients suffer when they can’t get the care they need due to Kaiser’s short-staffing,” she said.

Business analysts say that the strike, while short, will likely affect both the operational capacity and revenues of the major U.S. healthcare chain.

“Kaiser will respond by keeping critical infrastructure open, but absent plans to backfill striking team members with temporary help, the strike will very likely result in canceled procedures, reduced volumes, and a brief but sharp decline on provider revenues this week,” Kevin Holloran, a senior director with Fitch Ratings, said in a statement sent to The Hill.

What do Kaiser workers want?

Kaiser workers are most vocal about the low staffing levels that they say are burning them out and helping boost the company’s profits.

But they’re also fighting for higher pay, an increased minimum wage and a reformed bonus structure.

“Is Kaiser going to fix the perverse, broken PSP program that rewarded managers and executives for financial losses and gave frontline caregivers the shaft?” United Healthcare Workers West, one of the unions participating in the strike, wrote in a statement Monday.

Workers are also calling for a diminished role for vendors and third-party contractors employed by the company. Contractors can perform technical, administrative or direct care functions that would otherwise be performed by Kaiser employees.

A representative for the company said negotiations are ongoing.

“Both Kaiser Permanente management and Coalition union representatives are still at the bargaining table,” the representative said. “There has been a lot of progress, with agreements reached on several specific proposals late Tuesday.”

Kaiser Permanente enjoys a complex legal status, consisting of both not-for-profit and for-profit entities.

How many workers are striking?

There are 75,000 Kaiser workers striking, represented by a collection of different unions, including the Service Employees International Union and the United Healthcare Workers West (SEIU-UHW).

But there is at least one other strike underway at Kaiser, by UFCW Local 555, affecting pharmacy workers in the Pacific Northwest.

“Pharmacy workers represented by UFCW Local 555 at Kaiser Permanente will walk off the job [on] October 1 at 6:00am to begin a 21-day Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) strike,” the union announced on Sept. 30.

“Kaiser has committed numerous Unfair Labor Practices (ULPs), including failing to provide information regarding bargaining and grievances, attempting to directly deal with our members, and attempting to dictate to the Union who may serve as its representative,” the group said.

What percentage of Kaiser’s workforce is on strike?

Kaiser employs around 305,000 people, according to the company’s website.

With at least 75,000 employees now on strike, a quarter of the company’s workforce is now off-duty.

“Bargaining started almost 6 months ago, but unfortunately it wasn’t until we gave management a ten-day strike notice that they finally got focused and responsive on a broad range of issues,” the SEIU-UHW said in a Sept. 23 statement. 

“They seem to now realize that saying no or just not responding on an issue isn’t going to make it go away,” the union said.

What’s the precedent for this kind of strike?

The Kaiser strike comes as auto workers with the United Auto Workers union are engaging in their own precedent-breaking strike, stopping work at all three of the big U.S. automakers at once.

That strike comes on the heels of a coordinated strike in the entertainment industry that saw writers in the Writers Guild of America union and actors in the SAG-AFTRA union stop work simultaneously for the first time since 1960.

The writers’ strike has since concluded, with writers bragging of big gains, while the actors’ strike is continuing.

“Significant increases in the cost of living have often triggered protests. In some cases, these led to progress in the organization of labour, production, and society in general,” international economists with the United Nations noted in a trade and development report released this week.

During the economic recovery from the pandemic, gains have gone disproportionately to owners of big businesses while the labor share of economic output has greatly declined, following a longer-term trend.

“Income distribution has continued to shift further in favour of capital-owners during the COVID-19 pandemic years, with the profits of the largest 2,000 firms worldwide accounting for the bulk of this gain. This mirrored the continued decline of the labour income share globally,” U.N. economists noted.

Where are strikes happening?

Strikes are occurring at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in different states.

These include Washington, Oregon, California, Colorado, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

In California, there are 11 strikes happening in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, 14 in the San Francisco Bay area, five around San Diego, three in the central valley and four around the capital of Sacramento.

Four different strikes have been organized in southwest Washington and Oregon.